In This Place

I DIDN’T Go to Grace Church in Manhattan with angels on my mind. I was there to talk about prayer, leading a class before wor ship. It was only later that I caught sight of the stained-glass window in the back of the nave, the angels ascending and descend ing on Jacob’s ladder, seeming to fly right out of the frame.

Grace Episcopal is a historic spot; the current church was erected in 1846 on the edge of Greenwich Village. I had visited it years ago when my